The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Our Adventure to and from Charlottesville

   Jimmy, Grace, and I left Thursday to head to Charlottesville, VA for a second look at their residency program since I did not get to visit before.  We got there Thursday around Grace's bed time but since she had a late nap, she went to bed a little later and we played in the hotel room.  When she went to bed, Jimmy and I got to read and went to bed early ourselves.  Thursday night was pretty good sleep-wise (she woke up a few times but went right back to sleep).  Jimmy went into the Operating Room to observe and was back to the hotel by noon.  We had lunch at Applebee’s...things were looking good!

   After Grace's nap we went to sight seeing a little bit, thanks to some recommendations from friends.  We stopped at this downtown mall area to walk around (very cute!) and then had dinner at a place called The Local.  At The Local they serve only local food items.  Jimmy had chicken and veggies and I had a burger with fries...all made from local produce and animals :)  Grace did GREAT at the restaurant eating her dinner like a big girl and then she read a book while we ate.  We finished up the deliciousness and headed back to the hotel to put her to bed.  This is where things turn BAD.

   Around 11:40 pm Grace woke us up with a cry.  I tried to put her paci back in her mouth and felt pure wetness all over her face...she has had a lot of snot lately so I figured that's what it was.  Then I felt the pack n play sheet and it was soaked including her hair, pajamas, blanket...bad, very bad.  As soon as we turned the light on, the aroma hit us...she had thrown up A LOT.  We cleaned up everything, gave her a bath (she was laughing and playing in the bath...acting perfectly fine) and as I was changing her into her new pajamas...PROJECTILE...yum.  At this point we just put re-bathed her and smacked a diaper on her butt...Jimmy went to look up some stuff.   I kept Grace on her changing pad and with some easy to clean toys...she was still acting fine.  This is where things started to turn ugly.

  It was about 12:30 at this point and she started dry heaving every 15 minutes (bascially she was trying to throw up but had nothing left) so we had to ask for extra towels...it was a hot mess in our room.  Jimmy soon left to go get some Pedialite from Wal-Mart.  While he was gone, she threw up 3 more times...at this point she was really hitting exhaustion and crying when she threw up...poor baby!  Around 2 am she was really tired but each time we laid her down in the pack n play, she started dry heaving and we just got nervous with her lying flat, so I set Jimmy up in the chair in the room with a couple pillows and he held her.  Grace hasn't slept in our arms since she was a few weeks old so we knew she wasn't feeling well.  She did this for the next hour or so.  Jimmy couldn't sleep so he laid her back down...but she woke up and did it again.   It was ugly to watch in the fact that we felt so bad for her small, tiny self going through all of this.  We swapped and I sat in the chair with her for an hour but she woke up got sick a few more times.  Around 6 a.m. I could tell she wanted to lay down...I just prayed that she was done with throwing up and laid her in the pack n play.  She slept from 6:30 to 8:30.  Jimmy got a total of 4.5 hours and I probably got something close to that.  This is where things went from ugly to UGLY.

   Grace was acting fine in the morning and we knew we needed to get on the road, so we packed up and headed out.  She fell asleep almost automatically once we got on the highway...I guess it was soothing and I KNOW she was exhausted.  I tried to stay up to keep Jimmy company, but it was hard and we had to stop for some soda.   Grace woke up a few times but was is really good spirits, drinking some liquid and eating some mum mums.  About 30 minutes from our home she decided to get diarrhea...that made me start dry heaving in back seat.  Jimmy pulled over in some parking lot and I jumped out, put my head between my legs and took HUGE breaths of air while Jimmy changed her...great mom, huh?  We got back on the road and once we got close, I started to feel relief.  Not so fast...Grace decided to end the trip with BANG and literally 4 miles from home she woke up from her sleep and projectile vomited not 1...not 2...but three times in the backseat.  It was ALL over herself, car seat...everywhere.  If you were watching us arrive home you would have probably gotten a hoot out of it: we both jumped out of the car, Jimmy turned off the alarm and I carried Grace in front of me with both arms holding her out as far as possible (while Grace was smiling).   Jimmy proceeded to clean out the car seat while I stuck Grace straight into the bathtub.  During the bath Grace was laughing, clapping, and splashing water...having a good ole time!  We put her down for a looooong nap and thanked God we were finally home!

   Even though it was an eventful trip, we still did enjoy our time in Charlottesville.  We were fortunate all of this happened the last night we were there.  All we could do when we got home was to laugh about it all...we still were concerned about Grace, but MAN what a trip!  Grace slept 12.5 hours the first night back home and has been acting better. 

  And that's how our trip went from good, to bad, to UGLY!  :)